The present invention relates to the design and construction of hand held eating utensils, and, more particularly, to a spoon having an ornamental design or figure as a part of the spoon for the amusement of children.
Often children need encouragement to eat certain foods or at times merely want to experience a more pleasurable eating experience during meal time. At other times, children merely like to have small toys which can be related to food items as a source of amusement.
Also, food manufacturers often desire small items to be placed in cereal or candy boxes as promotional items. Such items must be designed so that they can be packaged in a flat configuration, must be inexpensively manufactured, and must be safe in the hands of children. Furthermore, such products may have to meet stringent requirements for food applications. It is also advantageous if such items are easily modified to provide for several different types of utensils without changing the overall design concept of the product.
In the past, various types of children's utensils have been developed. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 2,787,055 entitled "Articulated Toy and Spoon for Hand Feeding an Infant" discloses an articulated toy spoon which protrudes through a face of a cartoon like character. The idea of this device is to take the child's mind off eating and have the child's attention directed toward the cartoon like face through which the spoon protrudes.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,833,084 entitled "Attachment for Child's Eating Utensil" there is disclosed an ornamental attachment to the handle of the spoon which, again, will draw the child's attention to the ornamental handle rather than the food in the bowl of the spoon. U.S. Pat. No. 2,561,374 entitled "Kitchen Spoon Tongs" illustrates a pair of spoons which are mounted about a pivot point so that the spoons can close around the food to be served. However, there is not any decorative means which would be particularly amusing to a child.
U.S. Pat. No. 510,286 entitled "Spoon" illustrates a spoon which has a pusher/scraper mechanism which conforms to the curvature of the spoon bowl. The scraper operates by pushing it forward along the spoon bowl such that any food in the bowl will be pushed out the front of the bowl. The scraper is operated by merely pushing it from its end opposite the scraper end. There is again no ornamental designs on the spoon which would be attractive or amusing to children.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,344 entitled "Manipulatable Utensil Figure" illustrates another spoon having a figure at the end opposite the spoon bowl. The figure can be operated by placing a finger within the figure to manipulate it. There is not any means illustrated to push or scrape the food off or out of the spoon bowl.
As can be seen from the prior devices, there has never been disclosed a spoon having a configuration which operates in a scissors like manner and also has an ornamental or decorative animal head at the bowl end of the device. The prior art had imaginative decorative figures which were attached to the handle portion of the spoon, but not at the bowl end of the spoon. Furthermore, none of the prior art devices disclosed a pusher mechanism configured in a cartoon or animal like figure. Furthermore, none of the prior art devices dealt with a pusher mechanism which will push the food off the spoon as the handles of the scissors like device are operated toward each other.
Accordingly, applicant's invention provides a hand held eating utensil in the general configuration of a scissors and spoon. A pair of scissors like handles are connected to each other at approximately their mid points. The spoon bowl is attached to the forward end of one of the handles. A pusher mechanism shaped like an animal head is pivotally connected to the forward end of the other handle. The animal head has a forward most portion or snout which conforms to the inside of the bowl of the spoon. As the rear or distal ends of the handles are moved toward each other, the forward ends of the handles similarly move toward each other. The snout or forward portion of the animal head dips down into the bowl and pushes any food contents in the bowl forward out of the bowl. Thus, the closure of the handles causes food to be pushed out of the spoon into the child's mouth. The pivotal connection of the head causes the head to drop down and minimizes the likelihood that a child will poke himself or someone else in the eye with the snout of the animal head. Furthermore, the eating utensil can be injection molded out of food safe plastic materials in a relatively inexpensive molding process. Also, the pieces can be individually molded and adapted for snapping together. In this manner, the pieces can be stored flat in the cereal or candy box for easy packing and distribution.
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a novel construction of an eating utensil which construction allows for the interaction of the user with the decorative and functional animal figures of the spoon.
Another object of the invention is to provide a spoon having an articulated pushing portion which causes the food in the bowl of the spoon to be pushed out into the user's mouth. Related thereto is the object of providing a spoon having a pair of spoon handles pivotally connected to each other such that operating the spoon handles toward each other causes the articulated animal head to push the food in the spoon bowl out of the spoon bowl. Another object is to provide an easily and inexpensively manufactured spoon which is safe for food products.
Still another object is the object of providing a spoon made of several spoon parts which can be packaged in a flat configuration and easily assembled by the user.
Still another object is the object of providing a spoon having a pivotal animal head which pivots into a safe orientation such that the user will not be likely to poke himself or another child in the eye with the pusher animal head.
A further object is to provide an attractive eating utensil design which induces the child to eat his food and still provide an amusing device for the child to play with either with or without any food thereon.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to persons having ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.